And Then He Said What?
by GoodEnoughTheOpenDoor
Summary: The gang sets out to find and help an unsuspecting prophet and protect her from an even more unexpected antagonist.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I got bored at work and this idea came into my head. That and the fact that I think I become psychic for a split second very often. XP**

**Plus, I was mad my computer deleted my ch 3 of The Extended Family.**

* * *

The strangest customers have started coming into the store I work at recently. I work at a dry cleaners, fun right? When I say strange, though, I mean they look normal and for the most part they act normal, but whenever one of these three customers comes into the store, the air seems to change and I start to get goose bumps. I can't explain why, I just know there's something off about these people.

Around noon today one of them came in. His name in the computer system is Yusuke Urameshi. He's kind of short for a guy and he slicks his hair back and it makes him look like a gangster. I think that's what he's going for though. He always has a really bad attitude.

The door chimed as he walked in with a huge bag of dirty clothes and he waved at me. I came over to the counter, "Good afternoon, Mr. Urameshi," I greeted him like I did with all my other customers.

"Hey, my fiancé wants to know if we can get all this back tomorrow, she's kind of demanding," he huffed as he set the bag down on the counter, he looked really annoyed.

"Sure, that's no problem," and I print out a receipt that's supposed to remind him when the clothes will be ready.

He crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash can, "Can I ask you for advice?" he asked out of the blue. _Huh? What? He wants to ask me for advice? Why me?_

"Umm," I hesitate to reply, "About what?"

Yusuke sighed and leaned on the counter top, "My girlfriend has been up my ass lately, what do I do?" _He seriously just said that didn't he?_

"Err," I turn so he doesn't see my eye twitching, "What kind of things has she been getting on to you about?" _Why am I doing this?_

He sighed and started looking at the pictures on the walls, "Things like not coming home in time for dinner with her parents and being gone for several days, stuff like that." _Really? He doesn't know why she's up his ass about that? What kind of person is this guy?_

I had to catch myself from making another "Umm" noise, "It's probably because she's worried about your safety, I guess. Does she know where you go when you leave? She might be insecure about the relationship."

He looked at me with a furrowed eye brow, "Insecure? Why would she be insecure? She's the most non-insecure human I know!" _He just referred to his girlfriend as "human". What. The. Fuck!_ I just stared at him, completely thrown off by his dialog. When he noticed I was gawking at him he quickly changed his posture, "What?" His tone made me feel afraid for my safety. I remember kids like him from middle school and high school, always going around bullying everyone and using physical force to get what they wanted.

I quickly come up with something to say so he doesn't think I'm aware of his crazy-talk, "I'm sorry, I was thinking about the situation, she's probably worried you're going off with another girl or something." _Why am I talking to this guy about this? Why didn't I just say I wasn't good at giving advice?_

He starts to ponder what I've said, "How do I prove that I'm not hooking up with other girls?" he asks to one of the pictures. _Jesus Christ, dude! I don't know! Stop going off for several days on end?_

"Uhh," I look around for a moment, "Take her with you next time?"

"That's a great idea!" Yusuke smacks his fist into the palm of his other hand, "I'll take her on my next small mission! Thanks, dry cleaner lady!" _Mission? Human? What, is he some kind of alien? _He runs out the door, probably to go talk to his girlfriend about it. I sigh and sit back down in my chair. _No one's ever going to believe that just happened._

At about six p.m. another strange one comes in to pick up clothes, his presence doesn't threaten me though, he just makes me feel weird, I'm not sure how to explain it. His eyes are a vibrant green and he talks like he's a fucking encyclopedia. He comes in for Shiori Minamino's clothes, she used to come in herself but lately it's been this rock-star looking guy.

He comes in and in this cool monotone asks, "May I pick up Shiori Minamino's clothes please?"

"Yeah, sure thing," I say as I start to go through the racks for the clothes, "May I ask you a question?" _Holy shit, I'm afraid that I'll make him angry and do something crazy. He has a similar presence to that Urameshi guy..._ And a lot of customers get angry about really stupid things.

"Sure," he says with a smile.

"Why have you been running Miss Minamino's dry cleaning errands lately, Is she alright?" She used to come in and talk about her son a lot and cheered my up when a customer had dampened my day.

He gave a light chuckle, "She's about six months into a pregnancy and she has difficulty running around town so I convinced her to let me do them. I'm her oldest son, Suichi." _WHAT? This guy is the son of an Asian woman? How the fuck did that happen? Wait! This is the son she was always telling me about?_ He laughed behind his arm at the expression on my face, "I know, there's not much of a resemblance."

I find the clothes and put them on the front rack next to the cash register, "Well, that's sweet of you," I say brokenly; I'm not the best at customer service. "It'll be a thousand yen."

He hands me the money with a smile and thanks me for our services and walks out with the clothes. This time was thankfully far less awkward than most so I sighed in relief. I can't believe that guy is the one Miss Minamino wanted me to date!

The rest of the evening is filled with the normal deadbeat rich people and I close up shop on schedule.

The next day I come in hoping there won't be any of those strange customers, but sure enough, the first guy that comes in is the one that creeps me out the most. His family name is Kuwabara, his sister makes him run a lot of errands. He goes to one of the local colleges as a full time student and he brags about being psychic. This guy is huge; I have to strain my neck to look up at his face. It looks like he was used as a punching bag a few too many times as a kid and his hair is orange and curlier than mine. When he speaks, he sounds like an idiot but he seems very nice.

"Hey, I have a question," he asks as he puts a t-shirt on the table.

"Sure, what is it?" I say sleepily.

"My kitty ripped my favorite shirt, is there any way it can be fixed?" he shows me this giant rip in the shirt.

"A cat did this?" I asked surprised._ More like a gremlin did it!_

He laughs, "Yeah, I know, I was surprised too." I start to takes notes down on a tag for the seamstress when it hit me. All of a sudden I felt like I was in a giant freezer and all of my senses grew dull. "Hey, are you okay?" he asks, looking concerned.

I look up at him and he seemed to be experiencing the same chill I did. He looks at me then looks out the windows at the front of the shop. I can't do anything but stand there, stupefied. _What the hell was that?_

Mr. Kuwabara turns to me and has this scarily serious face. It reminded me a little of the short guy who looked like a greaser. "Did you feel that too?" He spoke as if he didn't want anyone outside to hear him. I'm not sure what to say, I feel kind of stupid admitting it so I just nod a little. "Where do you guys keep the trash around here?" _What the fuck kind of question is that?_

I point to the right wall, "Its right next door," I mutter. He abruptly pushed through the door and walked up to the door next to the shop. I followed him out, he would need a code to get in, but why the hell did he want to see the trash? Before I can tell him he needs the code, he kicks the door so hard it flew down the hallway. _How the hell did he do that?_ I follow after him as he marches in, "You can't just do that!"

"Shh!" He turned to face me with a finger up to his lips. I twitch and follow him silently. The lights are motioned censored, some crazy, creepy new technology. He gets to the end of the hallway and we hear a scream come from the dark room. Then the craziest shit happened. Mr. Kuwabara replied by shouting, "Spirit Sword!" and then a sword appeared in his hand that was glowing yellow and orange! My jaw dropped; this is by far the weirdest thing I have ever seen. A cat definitely did _not_ tear up his shirt. He leapt into the dark room which triggered the lights to turn on and I saw a giant, dark green creature holding an old woman in one hand.

I was truly petrified. What the hell was going on? Why were there monsters in the dumpsters! How'd this guy make a sword from thin air? WHY IS HE CHARGING THE MONSTER WITH HIS LIGHT SABER? I watch motionless as Kuwabara cuts down the monster and turns to attend to the old woman. He begins to ask her if she's hurt but the old woman throws up her arms and screams again then starts running towards me. She's almost right next to me before I can get my body to react and I start to back out of her way and trip over the door that Kuwabara had busted down. I fall flat on my back and stare up at the automatic lights for a second before my vision fades to black.

…

The droning ticking of the store clock starts to eat at my ears as I open my eyes. I'm lying face up on the bench inside the store and its night time. I sit up with a fit and look wildly around, "What—." The lights were on in the store and Mr. Minamino was leaning against the counter top staring at me. "Holy shit!" I jump out of my skin, feeling the coldness of his seriousness. "I'm really sorry, I—."

He waves my apology off, "It's quite alright. I was more concerned with whether you were alright or not." _…Okay… Why were you watching me while I was asleep? Creep._ I stand up and look out the window to the street, everything's normal. The door to the store was locked and I stare at it for a minute. "I locked the door for the business's security, is that alright?" he noticed my stare rather easily seeing as he was watching the back of my head. Can he read minds or some shit?

I turn to face him, "What happened to Mr. Kuwabara and that trash monster?"

He tilted his head with confusion, "What?"

"Mr. Kuwabara," I start again, his face looking even more confused, "He made a sword out of thin air and—," _Oh my god! What am I saying?_ I start to feel my face get red from embarrassment. "I…"

Mr. Minamino starts to giggle behind his hand, "That must have been one dream you had."

I get even hotter in the cheeks and scurry over to the computer to distract myself from this humiliation. Who the hell is ever going to believe that happened? Was it really just a dream? I find my really flat soda and chug down the rest of it. I think it made me feel worse rather than better. I turn back to Mr. Minamino, "I'm really sorry, were you here to drop off clothes?"

He looked at me with a blank face for a second, "Well, now that you mention it," he took off his tan blazer and started to unbutton his dark green button down shirt. _Oh my god! Don't get undressed right here! In front of me!_ My face felt sun burnt by this point. He thankfully had a white wife beater underneath and handed the shirt and jacket to me with an innocent smile, "My apologies, I seem to have gotten these rather dirty earlier today."

I take the clothes and hand him his receipt. He takes the receipt and looks me over again then smiles again and left before I could respond. I start to look at the blazer and shirt and realize they were soaked. I laid them down on the table and analyzed them more thoroughly. The back of the green shirt had three giant rips in it and it was soaked in blood that seeped through to the inside of the jacket._ What. The. Fuck. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?_

I decide to put it off until the next morning and start to do the closing procedures. As I'm closing the front door to the shop, I start to feel really weird again. This time I feeling like someone is watching me intently. So much that I feel like their eyes are piercing my shoulder blades. I look around, but I don't see anyone looking at me. It's just the normal citizens on their way home, or out to eat, or to the bars. I look up to the sky and see someone standing on the corner of a building across the street from the store. As soon as I notice the figure, it's gone. I shiver, "Now you're just imagining things," I whisper to myself and head for home.

The entire way home, the feeling of someone watching me never decreases even though I've stopped several times and looked all around to see if anyone was actually there. I never saw a strange figure again though. I go to bed and wake up late and almost don't get to work in time. When I'm done with everything that is needed to be done at work (including dealing with Mr. Minamino's bloody clothes), I set my head down on the small table next to my chair behind the counter. The density of sleep starts to hit me quickly and I let it embrace me. I'm a light sleeper, if anyone came into the store, I would be woken up with a jolt from the front door jingle.

I start to feel abnormally heavy though, and I can't seem to even twitch a muscle. I can't seem to make clear thoughts either, I try to sit up or open my eyes, but nothing. It feels like the world is slipping away and I'm now trapped inside a black abyss. Literally. I try to snap myself out of it and wake up but instead I start to see a blur of swirling lights. After a moment it starts to be coherent, Mr. Urameshi has just walked into the store. Wait, now Mr. Kuwabara is in the store too. They say something that sounds like they're talking about me but I can't really make out what they're saying, I just know they're talking about me. Then they start to yell and get in each others' faces.

…

The door jingle rings and I was startled so much that I literally jumped out of the chair and landed on my ass. I stand up to see Mr. Urameshi was a faint smile on his lips. "Oh, Mr. Urameshi!" came out of my mouth involuntarily. _What the hell just happened, NOW?_

He comes up to the counter, "Hey, I'm here to get my fiancé's clothes," he says wearily.

I nod and start to collect his clothes on the front rack, "I thought it was imperative that you came to get these yesterday," I try to say in a joking manner, but it's obvious that I'm not having a good morning.

He laughs a little and opens his mouth to reply as the door opens again. Kuwabara walked in, "Oh, hey Urameshi!" he greets in his normal manner of stupidity. I stop in my tracks and stare. _How is this happening? I just saw this happening. What the fuck is going on? Please tell me they aren't going to get into a fight in the store!_

Mr. Urameshi looks over at me staring, "Is something wrong?"

"Ehk!" I snap out of my thoughts, "Oh, no. Sorry!" I disappear behind racks upon racks of clothes to continue gathering his clothes. As I'm gathering them, I try to listen in on what they're saying.

"Do you think she remembers?"

"She seems to be acting differently, I wouldn't doubt it."

"Well, what do we do?"

"Tell her the truth I guess."

"No, Koenma said not to unless she started asking questions and stuff."

"Well, do you think she knows anything?"

"I don't know. I gave her the memory serum. Kurama said he watched over her until she came to."

Ok, that's it. I walk back out with half of the clothes, "Who's Kurama?"

They both snap their heads towards me and their faces go pale, "Uh," Kuwabara replies.

"Oh, great going Kuwabara!" Yusuke exclaims, "She heard your loud mouth!"

"Yeah, well she definitely heard that!" Kuwabara retorted.

"You blew our cover you idiot!" Yusuke gets in Kuwabara's face.

"Hey, you're just as much at fault as I am!" Kuwabara presses back.

"Um, excuse me," I say blankly but I'm ignored entirely.

"Well, if you hadn't have walked in here while I was in here, this wouldn't have happened!" Yusuke starts to clench his fists.

"Yeah, well—!"

"HEY!" I shout angrily still holding the clothes. They both stop and look over to me. "If you guys wouldn't mind taking this outside, this is a store, you know. And seeing as you two obviously have something in for me, you could at least respect my job so I don't lose it." I'm shaking in my skin and they notice and mutter apologies and run out of the store. "REALLY?" I shout angrily again. _I really wish someone would tell me what was going on! What the hell is happening to me? I'm losing my mind!"_


	2. Chapter 2

Koenma worked frantically at his paperwork on his desk muttering something to himself as George jumped around the room collecting the finished paperwork Koenma was throwing in no particular direction. Kurama almost let out a small chuckle as he entered the room, laughing at another's misery was supposed to be a bad thing though. Koenma jumped out of his skin and put his utensils down, "Oh, hi, Kurama!" He said nervously, already having an idea as to why he was there.

"Koenma," Kurama greeted coldly as he walked up to the equivalent of Jesus. "This mission you have us on is probably about to get serious very quickly," his blunt statement made Koenma straighten up and he grew a serious face.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Koenma said as he folded his hands on his desk.

"I need all the information Spirit World can offer," Kurama said directly, it was obvious in his voice that something wasn't right back in the Human World.

Koenma sighed and turned to George, "Ogre! Go get those books I had pulled from the files the other day."

"Yes, my lord!" George bowed in his constant state of hysteria and ran off almost hitting Hiei on the way out of the office.

"Hiei?" Kurama asked in slight shock as the fire demon midget walked into the office. He was supposed to be at his post back in the Human World with a constant eye on their drycleaners girl from a distance.

"Yusuke and the moron blew it," Hiei said flatly.

Kurama sighed and put a bit of pressure to the bridge of his nose, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hn. Honestly Koenma, why do you even want them to help with these kinds of missions?" Hiei hissed at the Jesus figure.

"Because Kuwabara has the Dimensional Blade and Yusuke is one of the most powerful creatures alive," Koenma stated with a tone that sounded like it was too obvious for him to even have said.

George came running back into the office with a pile of books and manila folders thick with papers piled high above his head, "Are these them, sir?"

"Yes, Ogre. Give them to Kurama," Koenma ordered in his toddler voice.

Kurama quickly grabbed the manila folders before they fell and paper went everywhere. He started flipping through the pages and his face turned very serious, very fast.

"I'm going back to _my post_ now," Hiei grimaced and walked out of the office.

"Why didn't you tell me about this when you assigned us to this mission?" Kurama snapped the folders closed which made a surprisingly loud snap. "This is far more serious than you lead us to believe," Kurama's voice almost had a hint of anger. It was obvious he was getting tired of being jerked around by the toddler Jesus.

"I didn't think Ayumi's father would react so violently so fast when her powers started developing. Heck! I didn't even foresee her powers awakening yet!" Koenma cried innocently.

"George, have those books sent to Genkai's temple," Kurama turned and gave George a very serious face.

"Y-yes sir!" George panicked and ran out of the office.

"Wait!" Koenma reached his arm over his desk to try and stop the ogre. "Those can't leave Spirit World!"

Kurama replied in George's place, "I'm also taking these with me," Kurama turned on his heels sharply and marched out of the office.

Koenma sighed and plopped against the back of his chair. _Maybe I should have been more up front about the situation. Kurama seems to be extremely pissed off! Note to self: Tell Kurama everything from now on!_

* * *

I sighed and leaned against the back of my chair behind the counter and glanced at the clock. _Only half an hour left. Then I have my weekend to sit back and think about all this craziness!_ I suddenly felt as if someone was watching me again, I didn't know what to do. For a moment I sat there, trying to understand this feeling I had then I got up and went to the window. I looked from the gutter across the street to the rooftops. Nothing. _Why do I keep feeling like someone's watching me?!_

I sighed again, I've been doing a lot of that this week, and sat back down to do calculations for the profits of the store for the week. It wasn't even five minutes before the front door opened and my two _favorite_ people walked in. They seemed to be more sober this time, "Can I help you?" I asked in a more nasty tone than I meant to have.

"We would like to apologize about earlier," Mr. Kuwabara began. I looked them up and down. They both had plump bruises on their faces. _Oh great, now what?_

"We've actually just been given permission to tell you what's going on," Mr. Urameshi tried to give me a grin while rubbing the back of his head. Probably another bruise back there.

I looked them over a few times but I got distracted by the feeling of someone watching me. I looked past them and out the window for a moment then turned back to them, "Can you explain why I feel like someone's been stalking me?" Again, I said that more harshly than I would have liked.

Mr. Urameshi laughed at that point, "That's our friend, Hiei. His job is to watch you from a distance so just in case any demons tried to harm you, he'd take care of it."

I lifted an eyebrow, "De—." The jingle to the front door cut me off.

_Oh. Great. Freak number three. They're all here now. Why do I have this gut wrenching feeling that my world is about to be completely inverted?_

Mr. Minamino froze when he saw Mr. Urameshi and Mr. Kuwabara. "Hey, Kurama," Yusuke smiled innocently at him, but obviously a little fearful of him.

Mr. Minamino didn't acknowledge him though, instead he turned to me and his serious face vanished and was replaced with a more friendly one, "My apologies, Ms. Ayumi," he began, "It seems my colleagues have decided to make this more difficult for everyone."

_Colleagues?! What the fuck? I don't even want to know. That's a lie! If you're with them, where's Ms. Shiori?!_ "Who the fuck are you guys? And where's Ms. Shiori?!" _Damn, now I'm starting to shake! This fucking sucks! Are they going to kill me or some shit? No, wait a minute. Mr. Urameshi said something about a protective stalker against… __**Demons?!**_

Mr. Minamino, or Kurama, or whoever the hell this guy is, went to the window and turned off the open sign and locked the door. "Um, excuse me. You could at least ask first," I tried my hardest not to hiss. Yup, my customer service went out the window. These people aren't real customers though, as I've just realized.

Mr. Red Head gave me a small smile, "Sorry, It's kind of important. But we need to talk. All of us," he aimed that last part at Mr. Urameshi and Mr. Kuwabara. _Ooh, he's mad. I'm kind of scared. He totally just locked me in here with them! There's no way I can get out of this. Ok, remember Ayumi, Mr. Urameshi said "protect" when he was explaining the stalker. I hope that means "protect" and not "protect from anyone else getting to me first!"_

I followed Red Head, easier just to call him that, to the back where he stood near a wall. His features showed no emotion, unless he was beyond pissed, which in that case, I guess I'd look like a gargoyle too. Mr. Urameshi and Mr. Kuwabara sat carefully on the couch and I folded my arms and leaned against the wall across from them. There was a minute of awkward silence during which my mood grew worse, "Speak," I finally choked out.

Mr. Urameshi immediately opened his mouth, "Okay, My name is Yusuke Urameshi. I'm the Spirit World Detective, meaning I have to go around saving the world."

"Stop," I interrupted, "What is Spirit World?"

"We can explain the small details when it's more convenient," Red Head replied quietly.

"Well if that's the way you want to be, fine," I groaned, "Continue… please."

"This guy is Kazuma Kuwabara," Yusuke pointed to Mr. Kuwabara.

_Duh._

"And this is Suichi Minamino, Shiori's son. Kind of. We call him by his original name, Kurama," Yusuke continued.

"Stop. What?"

"He's a really old demon—."

"What the _fuck _is a _demon_!" I interrupted him again.

"Like the monster I killed in the trash room," Kuwabara offered his simple explanation.

_How is he a demon and a Human's son at the same time?!_ "Um… Ok… I guess I'll ask more about that later…" I turned my attention back to Yusuke. "Continue."

He nodded, "We work together to protect humans, and sometimes demons, from catastrophic events." Kurama lifted an eyebrow and Kuwabara gave him a strange look.

"I didn't even know you knew that word," Kuwabara interrupted this time.

"Give me a break will, ya!" Yusuke retorted.

"On topic, please," _Kurama_ cut in calmly. _Why was he trying to get this over with so quickly?_ I looked at my watch, _Oh, the store's about to close._

"Right, so we were told to protect you and stay in contact with you to monitor your psychic abilities," Yusuke seemed to have given all the information he could muster.

I stared at him for a moment._ Psychic abilities?!_ I sighed, "You guys sure are swell at your job," I said sarcastically. "First, you don't think it would have been easier to run into me on the street, or spill something on me, or have your creepy stalker friend rob or mug me and another of you save me?"

"Err," Yusuke replied.

Kurama gave a small, short and muffled chuckle, "I told you."

"You shut up," Yusuke snapped then paused and gave in, "I guess you guys are right."

I rolled my eyes, "Second, psychic abilities?"

At this point Kurama stepped forward to indicate that it was his turn for explanations, "Some humans have dormant sixth senses or the ability to wield their energies. I'm sure you've already started to notice strange things happening to you that can't be explained by normal people. These abilities can be awoken, or unlocked, by a number of different things; the most common being a traumatizing event or over exposure to the Demon or Spirit World affiliations."

_Now I know why he was rushing Yusuke along, this guy had a mouthful to say!_ I stared at him. I don't really have anything to say to that, that he already told me he would fill me in later on at least.

So he continued, "I forced our boss to cough up the information about this mission. And unfortunately, most of what I've discovered in his files is bad." I gave him a look hoping he'd understand that I wanted him to continue. "Your bloodline can be traced back to the dawn of the human race. At the beginning a woman by the name of Ayumi was an extremely powerful psychic, most referred to her as the Oracle. At some point she decided she didn't want to live anymore but her powers kept her from being allowed to die. She was also afraid that she would accidently give her powers to the wrong person, which would be catastrophic, so she divided her power into nine individual powers and sent her powers to her children. The only problem was she had ten children in all so one got left out. This child grew a strong hate after Ayumi died and he manifested it into a power of his own and so this mystery hate energy has been cycling through the family as well." He stopped to catch his breath I'm assuming.

_Great, this creep knows more about my family than I do. Come to think of it, I don't really know any of my family… Wait, did he just say that the first person of our family had the same name as me?_ "What are the other powers?" I asked without realizing it.

"Immortality, eternal youth, visions of the future, touch of the past, sight of the present, barriers, projection of energy, telepathy, and the common sixth sense which Kuwabara likes to call 'the tickle feeling'," he replied not missing a beat.

_Damn…_

"Do you by any chance know which one, or ones I should say, you have?"

I looked at him confused, "Why would I have more than one?"

Kurama's face grew even more troubled, "Someone has started going around killing the other members of the family with powers to obtain them. If he acquires them all, he will be unstoppable, even for us." He paused and looked at me. He must have known I was unsatisfied with that answer so he continued. "There are two ways to transport the powers. If a member of the family has a power, they can be killed by another member of the family and the power will automatically be transferred to the killer. The other method is to commit suicide which allows the person to choose which family member they want to send the power to."

_Is he serious right now?! How the fuck am I supposed to be reacting to this?! I really wished that memory crap had worked, and then I wouldn't have to be learning all of this! I mean, it explains a lot about… well, my entire life, but holy fuck!_ My thoughts cut off and I was no longer able to form them at all. My knees became weak and I started getting all clammy and shaky. I looked around at them, hoping they'd know what to do as my vision started to blur and darken around the edges of my sight. _I this going to be another one of those freaky dreams…or visions I guess… like this morning?_ I managed to pull together one last thought then I looked up at them, wanting to tell them something felt wrong but all I could see was Kurama darting for me as my sight went entirely black.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you DemonMiko Jenna for favoring and following :3**


	3. Chapter 3

I blinked and stared at the ceiling. It was quiet; I could barely hear the roar from the city streets. I sat up slowly as I looked around and realized I was in my bedroom. The small lamp on my bedside table was on with a note next to it. The window was open and the breeze pushed the curtains into the room spookily. I moaned as I realized I had a head ache and started crawling out of bed. I lived in a two story condo, my first floor being the fifth floor of the building and my second floor was the sixth. I inherited the condo from my father after my mother died. My father took my sister and vanished, leaving everything in his name to me. I've been living in this three bedroom condo my whole life, but these last three years has been just me. The place always gave me the creeps when I was alone. I felt even more alone and scared than ever before though. _Someone in my family is after me! Who is it?!_ I started walking down the stairs when I met a pair of crimson eyes glaring at me. I screamed. Obviously.

The eyes stepped out of the darkness into the light coming in from the rest of the city. It was a short, young man with spiked black hair. He wore a black cloak that covered his entire body and had a white scarf-ish thing around his neck. "Who are you?" I asked petrified. _This day couldn't get any better, could it?_

"Hn," he almost sounded amused. "By your reaction, I assume you didn't read the note Kurama left for you."

_Damn, really? What a prick._

"Are you the guy who's been stalking me?" I blurted out, feeling the same intensity as I did when I was alone in the shop or walking through the streets.

"Hn," he grunted again. "I thought they already told you my purpose in this mission."

_Oh, he's supposed to be protecting me, that's right._ "What are you doing in my house?"

He didn't answer, it almost seemed like he rolled his eyes as he turned to look out the window._ Am I supposed to just let him be in here? I don't know this guy! And he creeps me out even more than Kurama does!_ I looked around the dark condo again. _I can only assume this means there's no point in hiding anymore… or this situation is about to get worse._ I thought to myself as I got a glass of water from the kitchen. Before I went up the stairs I turned and gave him another look over, "I guess, uhh… thank you?"

"Hn," he didn't even blink. _'Hn' must be his favorite phrase._

I definitely rolled my eyes and started up the stairs. I was exhausted from the day and I could barely make it up the stairs. I was trying to keep from panting by the time I reached the top. I took a moment on the last step as something seemed to strike me like lightning. All of a sudden I felt like I was frozen, the chills of cold engulfing me. My breath started to quicken then stopped all together. I was terrified and I had no idea why. I turned and looked at my bedroom doorway and saw my little sister, she was about twelve now. She was dressed in an odd, white dress that flowed in the wind from the window. "Rini?" That was the nickname I gave her just a few months before our mother died, I called her that because she reminded me so much of a little girl from a show that had just been debuted on TV at the time.

"No, daddy! Wait!" she cried frantically, tears rolling down her face.

It felt like daggers of ice were being driven into every inch of my body when she spoke, "What?" I breathed, confused. _Dad's here?_

She let out a cry and ran to my window, "No! Rini, wait!" I dropped the glass of water and ran after her but stopped in my tracks, her eyes paralyzing me when she turned to look me directly in the eyes.

"He's coming," she whispered and let two tears roll down her face before she leaned back and dropped out of the window.

I felt my heart explode and shoot fire into my veins, "RINI!" I jumped to the window trying to grab her before she could fall into the busy street six stories down.

"Ayumi!" I heard a rash voice yell behind me and pull me back through the window and close it. I could barely see straight, I was trying to find by breath, taking in huge gulps of air, but none of it seemed to be entering my lungs at all. My entire body felt like it was on fire. I couldn't think as I tried to hold back tears. Before I knew it I was bolting out of my home and down the stairs. "Wait!" I heard the voice call again.

I threw myself through the door at the bottom of the stair well and ran straight into someone, stopping the momentum I had no control over. "Ayumi," the man I ran into held my shoulders while the momentum in my body tried to pry me away from him and into the busy street. "What's wrong?" That calm stern voice seemed familiar but I felt like it was coming from far away. I wasn't struggling to get away from his grip anymore. I was just frantically looking into the street. No stopped, bent in cars. No blood or guts on the pavement. The people moving around us didn't seem to care, they moved as if the person holding me and I weren't even there. My sister, or what was left of her, was nowhere to be found. I gasped for air that refused to enter my lungs and looked up slowly to see who had stopped me as I felt Hiei's eyes penetrating my back once again. Kurama looked worriedly down at me. "What happened?" he asked in a calm and caring voice, much different than the Kurama from earlier that day.

I felt my body go dumb and I no longer hand the energy to hold my head up. I tried to answer him but I couldn't speak. I felt my body give in against his, my face flat against his warm chest and the world fell silent and my sight went black.

* * *

"So, the one after the family members is Ayumi's father?" I heard Kurama's voice traveling up the stairs and into my room.

"Yes," A girl's voice. "He's on the move now; Koenma thinks this is the turning point in his goal to becoming the Oracle. He's moving at fast speeds towards another family member in Italy."

"That's not good," Kurama replied dimly.

"What happened here?" the girl asked worriedly.

"Hiei said she woke up and discovered him then got a glass of water. She was heading back to bed when he heard her talking to someone named Rini. When Ayumi started yelling at Rini, Hiei decided it was time to step in and found Ayumi half way out her bedroom window in hysterics. I was on my way to check in on her when she burst throw a door into the street. She was still in hysterics and then passed out in my arms," Kurama informed the girl slowly.

"Oh my god! What happened, Kurama?" the girl begged with more worry in her voice.

"I assume Rini was her little sister, Rin. She must have had the power of telepathy and committed suicide to send Ayumi a message which materialized into a full on hallucination to Ayumi when the power started absorbing into her," Kurama explained his theory.

I felt tears roll slowly down my face and into my hair as I listened staring up at the ceiling, once again. _My father… he's the one coming after us… Rini…_ I heard the muffled moans of sobbing in the back of my throat as the tears started streaming. I heard footsteps on the stairs and shut my eyes and rolled to face the window that was closed now._ What the hell do I do?_

"Ms. Ayumi?" I heard the girl's voice call gently into my room.

I sat up, my eyes still shut, trying to stop the tears from flowing. I could feel the salt burning my skin and start dripping down my face again, building up at the bottom of my chin. "Yes," I replied through silent sobs.

She came in and sat down next to me, putting a hand around my shoulders, "My name is Botan. I'm a guide to the Spirit World. I also help Yusuke and the others on their missions."

I tried wiping the tears away from my face as they started to splatter off my chin and onto my forearms, "I'm sorry," I wiped away more tears. "It's just…"

She pulled out a cloth and handed it to me, "It's ok. I understand this must be really hard for you. But we are all here to protect you; I just wanted you to know that."

"Thank you," I muttered after I finished drying my face. "How am I supposed to deal with this?" I asked, not meaning to and looked at her.

She gave me a warm smile. Her hair was bright blue and pulled back into a pony tail. "If you trust us to protect you, the rest will be a lot easier to take in over time. We can also help you with developing the psychic abilities and teach you how to use them to protect yourself. That's what we're all here for."

I just stared at her for a moment then she let out a little giggle, "Of course, we made the mistake of letting chance pick who lead the mission."

"What?" I looked at her in confusion.

She giggled a little again, "Unfortunately, men aren't the smartest when it comes to common sense."

I laughed, which surprised me into silence. Botan's pocket started ringing and she pulled out what looked like a compact mirror. A toddler with "Jr." stamped on his forehead was looking at us from inside the mirror. _What the fuck?_

"Botan, I need to see you in my office right now!" He panicked.

Botan nodded and shut the compact mirror, "Sorry, I have to cut our girl-to-girl talk short, something must have happened." She waved and went over to the window and opened it. A long wooden oar appeared in her hand and she jumped up and sat on it, now hovering a few feet off the floor. "Kurama is downstairs. Tell him I told him to take you to Genkai's temple A.S.A.P. I'll see you soon!" Then she was gone. _You've got to be kidding me…_

I threw off my work clothes, which consisted of black slacks and a purple silk button down blouse, and threw new clothes on. I picked out a pair of old, ripped jeans and a black tank top. I ripped a black hoodie off of its hanger and started down the stairs.

Kurama looked at me with a curious face, "How are you feeling?"

I stopped and looked at him for a moment, "How do you think I'm feeling?"

He tried to hide a smile and stood up, "I think it's about time we head out," He said trying not to sound too serious. I didn't really feel like replying so instead I just went for the door. He followed me silently into the hall and I locked the door behind him. "Yusuke and Kuwabara are already at the temple," he offered to ease my mind. "Hiei will be following us as back up," he added in a calming tone. _Thanks, now I feel like the god damn president._

"Ok," I replied softly, looking around slowly to take in the blank walls of the hallway. He turned and started heading for the exit. I followed him silently out into the streets. I was hard not to stop and look around. I could feel Hiei's eyes fixated on me, I think I was starting to get used to this feeling. It burned a little between my shoulder blades but now that I knew what the feeling was, it didn't seem to bother me as much. We walked for a while, I wasn't sure where I was going but I knew one thing for sure: I didn't want to be alone and this guy is supposed to protect me. So I followed him obediently. We were soon walking down a deserted path with an overhang that was designed to keep people dry from the rain. I kind of wish it was raining. It was very dark on this path; there wasn't a street lamp in sight but the lights from the city dimly lit the area like moonlight.

_'Do you know which ones you have?'_ Kurama's question from way earlier that evening popped into my head. I looked up at his back. His hair swayed just the slightest to his footsteps. His posture was perfect. He was wearing jeans and a dark green windbreaker jacket that made the color of his hair pop. "Hey, Kurama?" I heard my voice escape my lips weakly.

He slowed down a little bit and turned his head back towards me with a gentle smile, "Yes, Ayumi?"

He waited for me to be by his side before he continued at the regular pace, "What were those powers again?"

His smile faded a little, "Immortality, eternal youth, visions of the future, touch of the past, sight of the present, barriers, projection of energy, telepathy, and the common sixth sense," his 'matter of fact' tone was gone and replaced with a gentle one.

_Visions… I guess that one's a given. The sixth sense explains Hiei's stare against my back… Rini…_ I felt tears starting to form under my eye lids. I shook my head a little and dug my nails into the palm of my hand trying to get the physical pain to cancel out the emotional pain. _Rini had telepathy, I think._

_ 'That's correct,'_ a voice replied to me inside my head. I froze in my place and gasped. _'Hn.'_

_Oh, you're a jerk!_

Kurama turned and looked at me with a worried face. "I have three of them that I know of," I offered. He frowned. "Sorry, Hiei was talking to me in my head. I got scared for a second until he made his trade mark grunt."

Kurama's response was a light laugh and then he seemed to let out a breath he had been holding in. "He likes to do that at inconvenient times."

I let a small smile crack onto my face for a moment but it was gone when I realized it had been there. We began walking again. "My guess is that they are telepathy, the sixth sense, and visions," I answered his question from hours before.

He didn't reply but his face showed that he was thinking intently on what I had just said. After a few more minutes I grew weary of the eerie silence, "Kurama?" I asked for his attention again.

"Yes?" He didn't slow down or look at me this time but his voice portrayed a feeling of comfort. _Why does he seem so different now compared to earlier in the shop?_

"Um…" _There I go with those 'ums' again_, "will you talk to me?"

He looked down at me with a questioning face, "What would you like to talk about?"

I thought about this for a second, the sound of our shoes echoing around us, "The things I wanted to know more about… like the Spirit World and Demon world," I replied after a moment. He told me all about the three worlds the rest of the way to the train station. He bought two tickets and I followed him to the platform. There was no one around. I had no idea what time it was, I just knew it was really late.

The train arrived shortly after we sat down on a bench, like it was planned or something. I followed him on board and sat across from him in a window seat. I watched out the window from the time we sat down till the time the train was in full motion well past the platform and out into the dark world. Trees were a blur and every so often I'd see the blur of car lights. There was no one else in the cabin. One of my other questions from earlier popped into my head. I tried desperately to find the courage to ask it in hopes that it would distract me from the trauma caused by the hallucination of my sister. "How are you a demon?"

He looked from the window over to me. He looked like he didn't want to answer but his motionless face gave into a gentle, warm expression that was missing a smile. "I was born as Yoko Kurama, a fox demon with the ability to manipulate plants. Twenty-one years ago I was attacked by a bounty hunter from the Spirit World. He almost killed me but I used the last of my energy to hide out in an embryo that hadn't acquired a soul yet. I was reborn as Shiori Minamino's son. I retained my memories and abilities when I was ten years old."

_You possessed an unborn baby?!_ I blinked at him in disbelief. When I realized my mouth was hanging slightly open I tried to close it but ended up saying my next thought out loud, "What did you do after that?"

He laughed behind his hand. I assume he was laughing at my expression. _I probably look like I have Down Syndrome right now…_ He removed his hand from his face, "My original plan was to return to the Demon World when my abilities returned but I had grown attached to my mother and didn't want to leave her." _I really wish I had the courage to tell you that you sound like a creep._

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. _You sure seem like you want to talk about this a lot less than explanations of this hidden universe you threw me in to._ My excuse remains to be because I wanted to avoid the silence. "How did you get this… _job_?"

His smile almost turned sharp as he thought to himself, "When my mother fell ill a few years ago I teamed up with Hiei and another demon to steal an enchanted mirror called the Forlorn Hope. It would grant any wish I wanted in return for my life. I wanted to give my life for my mother's. I was about to go through with it when Yusuke stepped in and offered his life for mine and the mirror granted my wish taking half of each of our lives as payment for Yusuke's selfless act. I felt indebted to him… so here I am." He gave me a warm smile obviously trying to make it sound as if it weren't as big of a deal as it sounded. _He really just said of that, didn't he?_

"Are you serious?" I asked abruptly after a moment of silence. _Oops. I really didn't mean to say that out loud!_

He looked like he was mildly entertained with me at this point, "Yes." His voice sounded serious but was broken my silent chuckles of laughter.

"Ok," I looked around the empty cabin for a minute before turning back to him, "What was it like before you became Ms. Shiori's son?"

His face dimmed slightly but his voice stayed light, "What's with the interrogation? Do I get to ask any questions?" he teased.

_Way to change the subject_, I deadpanned inwardly to myself. "I…" _damn you._ "I've recently developed a fear of silence… and no."

He tried to look hurt as a shadow was casted over his face. We both looked up to see Hiei standing in the isle in front of us. "Hiei," Kurama started.

"Ayumi's father reached the border of Italy an hour ago," he recited coldly. "I was told to tell you immediately."

Kurama replied with a change of facial expression. He looked like a gargoyle again. Hiei took this as a decent response and disappeared before my eyes.

"How does he do that?" I asked after a moment of being shocked.

Kurama turned back to me, "Sometimes I wonder the same thing. I'm convinced he can teleport."

* * *

**A/N: So "Rini" from Sailor Moon. I thought it was cool cause Togashi is married to the Sailor Moon lady XD Maybe I'****m just an uber dork. My little sis really does remind me of Rini though -.-  
**

**Thank you DemonMiko Jenna for the review! You like how I did that, don't you? XD  
**

**And you! Reading this right now. Review or I'll embarrass you too! I know you're reading this. I can see you.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

I leaned back against the chair, resting my head on the not-so-comfortable-but-it'll-work head rest and looked back out through the window at the tree line dashing by in the night. _My father is going after our family and I only know one person alive in our family… my father. This fucking sucks. I wonder how many powers I really have… When I absorbed Rini's power it felt like just a really bad anxiety attack, and God knows how many "anxiety attacks" I've had over the past couple of years. This whole thing is just… Bizarre…_

_Dad… why are you doing this?_

I felt my skin crawl and my chest tighten as I thought about this situation I have found myself in. The pain in my chest started swelling and it slowly became harder to breathe. I looked over to Kurama who was also looking out the window deep in thought, "Hey, Kurama?" I said in a tone that was a lot weaker than it was during our conversations.

He looked over to me as recognition.

"I think—," I was cut off by my lack of oxygen and started panting, hoping it would allow air into my lungs.

"Ayumi," Kurama straightened up and began to analyze my condition.

_Why does this have to keep happening?!_ I couldn't form words or thoughts after a few seconds. My skin grew clammy and I stood up, attempting to go find a bathroom or something. I don't really know why I decided a bathroom would help, but I couldn't just sit there and take the pain.

"Ayumi, wait," Kurama stood up and started to follow me.

I turned back to him but my sight started to darken and my hearing was diminishing as well. I was going to black out, or pass out. I reached out in his general direction, fully aware of the fact that I was no longer aware of my surroundings or in control of myself. I don't really have any other choice than to trust him at this point, especially since I now can be properly diagnosed with a chronic syncope condition.

As my consciousness slipped away I felt him take a hold of me and I fell into a twisted dream.

* * *

I, yet again, found myself blinking up at a ceiling with a mental image of a man with long silver hair and fox ears burning in my mind. His name was Yoko Kurama and I felt like I knew him since his birth. His original birth. I knew, to my understanding, everything about Kurama now. _WHAT. THE. FUCK?!_

I could hear voices as I started to take in my surroundings. I was in a traditional styled Japanese room, rice paper walls, bamboo flooring, the whole nine yards, including my bedding I was lying in.

"So, she passes out when she acquires another one of these powers?"

"It appears that way," that was Kurama's voice; I was familiar with that one by this point.

"Do you know which one?" This voice was familiar too, Botan I think she said her name was.

"Yes," Kurama paused, "When she touches people now, she retains their memories."

"How do you know?" the first voice asked.

It was silent for a moment. "I caught her when she was passing out and when her skin came in contact with mine I quite literally felt my memories transferring to her," Kurama replied in a slightly colder voice. I flinched, _Guess I was correct. HOLY SHIT! This guy… his memories are harder to take in than my situation's latest developments! What the fuck am I supposed to do about this?_

I heard the guy laughing and I started to recognize the voice, it was Yusuke's I'm sure of it now. "From what I know about you, she's probably having a harder time dealing with your memories at this point!" He was obviously teasing Kurama.

"This isn't funny, Yusuke. She's probably going to freak out when she wakes up," Kurama said in his colder voice.

Yusuke's laughter stopped abruptly, "Is your past really that bad?"

There was no answer for a while. "I'm going to go check on her," Botan broke the awkward silence. I sat up carefully as she slid open the door. "Oh, you're up!" she chirped. I heard a set of feet start to walk away as she came into the room with Yusuke following behind her.

I nodded after a moment.

"How are you feeling?" She asked gently as she knelt down beside me.

"I… I'll be ok," I choked out over my much overloaded mind. My mind was spinning in a mix of emotions, thoughts, and Kurama's memories. "Where'd Kurama go?"

"I'm not sure," Botan trailed off.

"He does that," Yusuke gave me a warm grin. "A lot," he added after a second and sat down Indian style.

"So," I began, "Uncle Italy is dead, I take it. He committed suicide when he found out my father was after his power."

"Yes, how did know?" Botan asked surprised.

"I'm the one experiencing this shit first hand," I deadpanned.

"Oh, right," Botan giggled nervously.

"What's it like?" I looked over at Yusuke who had just spoken, "knowing everything about Kurama, I mean," he asked, ready to retain black mail.

"Scary!" I flashed him a face that spoke of terror and shock.

Yusuke burst into laughter, "No really."

"It's about a millennia's worth of life experience to take in, I'm not done digesting all of it yet," I answered him more seriously. "He was pretty brutal," I added after a moment.

Yusuke laughed again, "He's still brutal!"

I let out a small laugh. _These guys really know how to brighten someone's day… or just enjoy making fun of each other a lot._ "I guess to put it in more graspable terms, the events in his past are pretty messed up… but overall, he was a decent person when it came to the people in his life… unless they tried to fuck him over. He just had minimal emotions back then."

Yusuke was practically rolling on the floor laughing. "I guess he's pretty much the same!" he choked out through fits of laughter.

I laughed at Yusuke's hysteria, "Not really… I don't really know how to explain the differences… other than there are different lessons in life for demons than humans. He's had the opportunity to learn both."

"Go on," Botan chimed in.

I looked over to her, "I don't know," I paused, "What if he doesn't want me to talk about it?"

"Are you afraid of him?" Yusuke asked.

I looked back over to him, "Well… no. Not any more than I was before I obtained his memories."

"Then can you tell us why he hides his past?" Botan pried.

"Why?" I heard a defensive tone in the back of my throat and immediately wanted to take my response back.

"We want to know because we worry about him. He seems to always be beating himself up because of his past, like he's guilty or something," Yusuke explained.

"Oh… I don't really know why… He seemed to be really good at suppressing emotions, but as a human, it's impossible to do something like that. It's just a human instinct to feel guilt when killing and hurting other people. Those feelings weren't completely absent when he was a demon; he was just capable of ignoring them."

Botan and Yusuke stared at me for a while.

"I guess when he became human, he wasn't capable of suppressing all those emotions anymore," I paused and there was another awkward silence. "He shouldn't though; he was never a bad person. He was living in a completely different reality where it was necessary to be that way… or die."

"I guess," Yusuke spoke after another awkward silence, "I should be glad I was human before becoming a demon."

"Yes, that does seem to be the better trade off," Botan spoke mostly to herself and possibly Yusuke.

"But you're right," Yusuke said, speaking to me, "He shouldn't feel bad. I've been to Demon World and I know what it's like there. It's definitely a do-or-die world. Here, people can slack off and screw people over and the consequences are a lot less severe."

I sighed, and Botan gave me a weird look. "What?" I asked her suspiciously.

"You seem pretty fond of Kurama," she replied with devilish grin.

"I'm just grateful he hasn't let me fall on my head from passing out," I replied innocently.

Yusuke laughed, "I guess I'd be all for Kurama too if I were in your situation!"

"Screw both of you," I deadpanned again subtly giving them the bird.

Botan stood up and kicked Yusuke, "I guess we should let you rest then, I'd be exhausted personally."

Yusuke stood up with a huge grin and waved as he followed Botan out of the room. I let out a loud sigh after they shut the door. "I'm so not ready for them to be teasing me," I groaned to myself.

I heard Kurama laugh and knock on the door which made me jump, "What the hell?" I yelled to him.

He slid open another door, "May I come in?"

"Why not," I was deadpanning again, "Why couldn't I sense you?"

He smiled at me as he sat down against the wall across from me, "I was suppressing my energy so Yusuke wouldn't sense me."

"You can do that?" I asked a little surprised.

"Yes, to a certain degree."

"Well… shit."

He laughed a little behind his hand. There was an awkward silence like no other after that. I couldn't stop thinking about his past and I have to admit, I was afraid of how he was going to react to me knowing about them. "I'm sorry," I accidently let slip after a while.

He perked up questionably, "For what?"

"Accidently learning about your past," I looked down at my hands that were resting idly on my lap.

"Don't be. It was, as you said, an accident," he gave me a light smile. "To tell you the truth, I'm not all that worried that it was you who learned about them."

I looked back up at him in confusion.

"We've put you in a predicament that has forced you to blindly trust me. I was relieved when you reached out for me when you started to pass out, it told me that you were aware that that was really the only option and you had accepted it," he paused. "So, in return for your trust, I should have no reason not to trust you."

I looked back down, not sure how to reply.

"Do you still trust me… after learning about my past?" he asked after a moment.

I snapped my head back up at him, "Well, after that last statement, how could I not?"

He gave me the warmest smile I've seen on his face yet and I realized I was mirroring it. _Why am I smiling?!_ I quickly looked back down at my hands as I felt my cheeks start to flush. _What the hell is going on with me now?!_

I heard him try to muffle his laughter again, "Ayumi," he began to speak again, "I should thank you."

"For what?" I looked back at him, trying to kill off my physical reactions to our current conversation.

"Something about your conversation with Botan and Yusuke has seemed to put me more at ease with my past. You're extremely perceptive. Maybe I just needed a judge of my character from a different perspective." There wasn't a smile on his face but he seemed to give off a certain calmness, not at all like the gargoyle expression he usually had when he's being serious.

"Oh, um…You're welcome?"

He gave a light laugh not bothering to cover it this time and I was definitely flushed again. _Dammit, stop it face! I can't think when you're red!_

He stood up, "You should get some rest. Passing out several times a day can't be good for your health."

"Yeah," I choked, trying very hard not to do anything but suppress my facial betrayal. He left just a quietly as he came and I threw my head back down onto the pillow. _I can't deal with this right now! I should be thinking about my father and figuring out what to do when he comes for my head!_ But as soon as I started to relax I slipped away into some much needed rest.

* * *

_"So, it's finally comes to this?" A middle aged man was speaking to someone. My sight was blurry around the edges._

_ "Yes, I'm afraid so." A man from somewhere I could not see replied._

_ "I see," he paused, "Then there's not much else I can do to stop this." He held up a knife and drove it into his chest._

_ "NO!"_

_ "This is all I can do to help. My power is immortality, I wish to bestow it onto her," he choked out as blood started oozing viciously from the wound as he tore it back out of his chest._

_ "Why?"_

_ "She'll fail in protecting the powers my family has given her thus far unless she cannot die. It would not be fair to ask her to kill herself to bestow them unto me for protection. I've lived far too long a life as it is," He paused and gave a genuine smile. "Plus, she has my mother's name. It's destiny if you ask me."The man coughed up blood with the last sentence and fell to the floor._

* * *

I awoke with a scream launching myself into an upright position. My heart was racing and I was taking in huge gasps of breath, thankfully the oxygen was filling my lungs. I was shaky and drenched in sweat. _A vision! I'm going to be immortal?!_

Kurama and Botan slammed open the door to the room I was in. "What happened?" Kurama asked, his face betraying his calm collected composure with worry.

"I…" I froze staring up at them, "I had a vision…"

Botan flopped to the floor beside me and felt my forehead for my temperature, "What did you see?"

I thought for a moment, "My ancestor committed suicide to give me immortality to protect my powers and myself from my father… I think."

"When do you think it's going to happen?" Kurama asked; his face back to his normal gargoyle expression. Ok, maybe not "gargoyle," just the same feeling as a gargoyle's expression would give off.

"I… I don't know. I might even already have it. I feel like I just had an anxiety attack so…" I trailed off. "We can test it, if you'd like."

He frowned at me, "I'm not going to test whether you can die or not."

"How would we know for sure then?" I retorted, still shaken up from the horrifying vision.

"Kurama, can't you prevent fatal wounds from actually killing someone with your plant concoctions?" Botan cut in.

He looked at her like she said something ridiculous; "Sure, although I'd prefer if you didn't make it sound like I was a witch." he tried not to grumble.

I covered my mouth to try and keep me from laughing at his facial expression, "Making substances from plants that can save people from death is a little witch doctor-like."

Botan turned back to me, "Are you sure you want to test it?"

I stood up, mentally thanking whoever set me up in the room for not undressing me. "Yes, how else would we know? It's not like these powers come with greeting cards," I replied sarcastically.

* * *

**A/N: Kurama asks Ayumi about her father/family past in the next chapter, for those of you who are wondering :3**

**Thank you DemonMiko Jenna, nanisan1955, and mystery person for the reviews!  
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**And to my beloved JUST 2 DREAM OF YOU, If I could put a signature at the bottom of each of my chapters for each of my stories it would say: Just 2 Dream Of You is the bestest person in the entire world!  
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**AND YOU! You should be reviewing right about now.  
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	5. Chapter 5

"You want me to do what now?" Genkai asked wearily as she stepped out onto the porch with Ayumi and Botan.

"I need help figuring out which powers I have," I replied timidly.

"She had a vision in her sleep about acquiring the power of immortality," Botan offered with more confidence than me.

"So… you want me to shoot you?" Genkai asked raising an eyebrow.

"More or less," Botan answered for me, "None of the boys will help. We've asked Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara and we can't even find Hiei, although Ayumi's sure she can sense him somewhere around here."

Genkai looked me up and down, "Well then what are we doing sitting around wasting time," she mused and stepped down off of the porch into one of her gardens. This one was a nice plain yard with a pond in the middle filled with all colors and sizes of koi fish. About twelve feet away from the pond was the end of the yard and the beginning of a forest. The sun shined bright in the cloudless afternoon sky. Genkai turned back to me, "Well hurry up and go across the pond, I don't have all day."

Something in me obeyed without thought as I ran to the other side of pond, it was probably caused by her "fuck with me and I'll make you regret it" tone. _Why am I doing this?_ Before asking Genkai to help, Botan informed me of her technique called the Spirit Wave which could cure any damage she did to me. As I turned to face Genkai from across the pond my stomach began to turn. _Is she really about to shoot me? I wonder how bad this is going to hurt… It's probably too late to be having second thoughts, isn't it?_

Kurama and Yusuke came out on cue and stood next to Botan, "Hey grandma! You aren't seriously going to shoot her, are you?!" Yusuke yelled.

"Well since you're too chicken to do anything around here, I guess so," She taunted with her sarcastic, raspy voice. Kurama sighed but no one else seemed to notice. These guys aren't very observant with each other.

_Meanwhile, I'm sitting over here on the other side of the damn pond waiting to be blasted into Timbuktu! What the hell am I doing?_ Before I could continue my internal dialog I saw a flash of blue light and then I was being thrown backwards into the forest. Everything was black except for the moments of impact with tree trunks. I don't know when I stopped being in the air and back on the ground face first. I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. I tasted blood. Then I heard feet running towards me and my vision started to come back. I sat staring at Genkai, Botan, Kurama, and Yusuke running towards me. As they approached I figured out where the rest of my body was and tried to lift myself up. I failed but managed to get myself onto my back. I stared up at the trees around me and the sun shining through them. Then the pain started to set in. _I am never asking someone to try and kill me again… Jesus Christ this sucks…_

"Are you alright?" Botan asked innocently as she knelt down beside me. My body felt like it had been soaked in lighter fluid and then set of fire. I was in so much pain I couldn't see straight. I couldn't breathe. I just stared at Botan through the haze of pain.

Kurama was the next person to speak, "I think the more appropriate question is, so are you satisfied with testing your immortality?"

"I think I should be dead," I muttered.

"Ha," Genkai offered as she knelt down and pulled back her sleeves.

"Oh?" He sounded like he was teasing but looked irritated. _That look he has is probably the one I was always afraid of getting back when I was just a "drycleaners girl"._

"I can feel my lungs filling with blood," I found myself smiling up at the sky with my eyes shut. _This is so incredibly fucked up! it's kind of funny… I can't even die… even if I wanted to. But holy fuck does it hurt!_

Genkai placed her hands over my chest and a blue aura formed around them and started seeping into my body. I instantly became numb. I could hear Yusuke and Botan talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. I started to look around, I felt cut off from the rest of the world. I eventually found Kurama frowning down at me and stared back up at him. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. _Why was he so mad? I'm ok aren't I?_

My heart started beating again. It was so loud it startled me. Not even seconds after, I could feel oxygen entering my lungs again. It hurt almost as bad to get them back as it did to lose them. I'm sure I made some groaning noises but my heartbeat was so loud it even drowned out Botan and Yusuke's chit-chat. I looked back to see Kurama still watching intently. _Ok, what the FUCK are you staring at me for?!_ By the time Genkai was done healing me and I felt the way I did three minutes ago, I was pissed… and I don't even know why. Yusuke offered a hand to help me up and I took it eagerly.

"How's it feel to die?" he teased.

"Pretty fucking shitty," I humored.

Yusuke burst into laughter, "Tell me about it!"

"Now that I've satisfied your sick desire, I'm going back to my video game," Genkai groaned sarcastically as she walked away.

"Thank you!" I replied awkwardly. _Obviously still not good with these manner type things…_

"Ooh! Hey! Let me play too!" Yusuke ran after Genkai.

I laughed, "Ok then…" I sighed after they were gone and patted my torso. My stomach was filled with a tingly sensation and sore. My entire body felt like it was shaky still.

Botan waved her hand in front of my face, "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh, uhh… yeah," I cleared my throat. "I mean, yes. I just need some time to think about things now. Still getting used to the reality shift, you know?"

She gave a forced little giggle, "Ok, just let me know if you need anything," and she went off somewhere, I wasn't paying enough attention to where.

_Now the only person left to get rid of is Kurama… this is going to be interesting…_ I turned to face him but before I had finished the motion my subconscious pulled me towards a path in the woods. "I'm… going to go for a walk," my voice filled the silence awkwardly as I stumbled to learn how to walk again.

I heard him sigh again, "I thought you had a developing fear of silence," he managed to throw out calmly and sarcastically.

"I seem to have a lot of developing side effects lately," I retorted, or tried to. I was still obviously disoriented all together from being shot with spirit energy hard enough to die… and did so, minus the unconsciousness and the soul separating from my body thing. I quickened my pace and felt his presence distance itself from me as I walked. The forest was quiet, not even a breeze that rattled the leaves. The silence slowly worked my nerves as I tried to digest everything. And Kurama's life story wasn't making it any easier. _Well, I managed to make it an entire ten minutes without thinking about it… What the fuck was that look he had earlier?_ _Come to think of it, why do these guys still intimidate me?_

"_You sure have a funny way of thinking things out…"_

_And now there are voices inside of my head…_

"_Hn. Fool…"_

_GO AWAY HIEI!_

"_Quiet your thoughts; they're too damn loud to be ignored."_

_I fucking hate you..._

"_Good."_

I fumed for a minute until I realized I couldn't sense him anymore. _Did he really leave? That's a relief…_ I spotted a stream running through the woods and walked towards it. It was quiet, just the occasional small splash from the minnows swimming up it. I sat down on a fallen log with a sigh and rested my head in the palm of my hands. The sunlight reflected off of the water like a thousand miniature suns. I don't think I remember a time when it's been this quiet. I grew up in the city and have never really left it. The constant drone of cars, people, music, and sirens becomes numb after so long. But it was truly quiet here in the forest in the mountains that were far away from civilization. It was relaxing in a hypnotizing way.

I don't know how long I sat there tossing between my situation and getting over Kurama's traumatizing past before I realized I had completely spaced out. What snapped me out of my thoughts was a slowly tightening knot in my stomach. It was similar to feeling the presence of Hiei but very different at the same time. I knew from that much information that someone, or something, was there with me. This realization made me instantly sick to my stomach as I began to look for the source. As I stood up, I started to hear leaves rustling and turned to see something headed for me at full speed. As it dipped between the shadows of the trees and the beams of light I started to understand what it was. _A demon…_

I froze. _What the hell am I supposed to do? Why is it here? Should I run? Or scream for help? Or fuck! _He was getting close fast so I decided to run, tripping over the log in the process. I threw my hands out to break my fall and quickly tried to get back up.

He started laughing, probably because he was satisfied with how easy it was going to be for him to eat me, and slowed his pace to chat. I wasn't paying attention though, I was too busy finding my balance and trying to run again before his voice seemed to be right in my ear. "You're too easy to find," is all I heard before my sight went red and I was back on the ground. I looked up in time to see Kurama pull out his… rose? _I honestly shouldn't be surprised, but sadly… I am._ My mind quickly turned back to the last thing I heard. "_You're too easy to find…" What the hell does that mean?_ As I sat there for the split second, that seemed more like an hour, my stomach grew nauseous to the demon's words.

Kurama said something quickly and his weapon actually became a weapon. I watched as his rose transformed into a green whip with thorns in a blink of an eye. _Is he seriously fighting with plants?_

"Wait!" I heard myself say as I stood back up. To my surprise Kurama and the demon both stopped advancing on each other. I honestly didn't think they were going to listen so I kind of stood there dumbfounded when they did.

"What is it?" Kurama replied in a rushed manner.

"Oh… um…" _I honestly wasn't prepared for this… _"That guy said that I was too easy to find. What does that mean?" _I'm an idiot…_

"We can discuss it later, Ayumi," Kurama answered dryly as the demon chuckled. The demon started to say something but when I looked at him the laughing had stopped and his head was on the ground.

"…ok then… um… does this qualify as later now?" I said stupidly as I stared at the now magically beheaded demon. _Maybe plant weapons aren't as gay as I thought…_

Kurama gave me a warm smile and walked up to study whether I had been hurt or not. The kindness of the smile was creepy considering he just killed someone… something… I don't know, I give up on trying to be literarily correct! "Yes, I can explain what he said now," he finally replied.

I sighed and sat back down on the log resting my head on my hands. Kurama sat down on the log as well and put away his weapon, "When your body is at rest it seems to give off an aura that draws demons to it."

I stared up at him, "So… I'm a demon magnet on top of all this?"

His mouth twitched upwards for a second, "Pretty much. My theory is that because you have so many of the oracle's powers and your father practically has the rest, they're trying to call to each other. The demons just happen to pick up the wave length and want to know what it is."

"Oh that's just fucking great," I let my head fall so my fingers slid up into my hair, "I'm a god damn beacon now."

"I wouldn't be too worried about it," Kurama offered.

"Why not?"

"Because you've had this aura since before we started this mission a few weeks ago."

"Then why is this the first I'm hearing of it? Is this not important?"

"The demons that had honed in on you were lurking and waiting when we came along and we've been silently killing them behind your back so you wouldn't have to worry about them."

"What made them go from lurking to attacking?"

"The strength of the aura from the amount of power you've been acquiring these last couple of days."

"And knowing all this, you let me wonder out into the forest?"

He let a small laugh slip, "You think I'd really let you go anywhere without Yusuke, Hiei, or myself?"

I sighed and the world grew quiet again. The forest around us had darker tones of browns and greens now and the sun only had an hour or so before falling below the horizon. We sat in the silence for a few minutes before the silence started to get to me again. "What the hell am I supposed to do?" I didn't mean to say it out loud and I felt retarded after saying it.

Kurama took his time replying, "The only thing you can do, keep going."

For some reason that made me feel better about everything. I guess I just needed to hear someone else say it out loud. After all these years of telling myself to just keep going, it never felt more impactful than it did when it came from someone else.

I wanted to break down after thinking about his response. I wanted to cry. I'm not much for crying, but I wanted to cry. I never imagined something exotic like this would break me down so much. As I child I used to daydream about throwing away reality and jumping into a supernatural fantasy, but this was not what I daydreamt about as a little girl. This, surprisingly, was still reality… and a fucked up, twisted one at that. My father, whom I haven't heard from in years, is coming to kill me. That is the ultimate reality. And it sucks.

I gulped and counted my breaths as I tried to calm myself down. I could feel Kurama still next to me, waiting patiently. I couldn't figure out if I wanted him to go away or say something to break the silence. Then I started thinking about the silence again, and as I've noticed, when I focus on the silence, I tend to say something without meaning to. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I guess…" I had to think about it but as soon as I started thinking, it came to me like a car hitting me in the face. I knew at that moment why I was so worked up. In my childhood dreams, I always had awesome powers and was able to defeat everything that stood in my way. In reality, I had no power to protect myself with… other than immortality, which has proven to be both useful and pretty fucking shitty at the same time. "I just feel… useless."

Kurama changed his posture and stayed quiet while thinking on what I said. "Why's that?" he finally asked.

I sighed, again, and sat up straight in fear of back pain from hunching over. "I can't do anything with my powers."

Kurama turned to study me, he does that often, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, the whole visions, telepathy, sixth sense, touching people thing, immortality…" I sighed, "I can't protect myself or anyone else with all that shit."

Kurama smiled wearily at me, "That's why we're here."

I buried my face into my hands, "That just makes me feel even more useless. I'm so useless I need a group of the world's most powerful people to protect me."

"Ayumi," Kurama paused, "Even if you could, do you think we'd let you? Our mission is to protect you and stop your father from getting your powers. I would think of it as a waiting game."

"A what?"

He tried not to smile, "A waiting game, you just have to stay with us and wait for the rest of the powers."

"Oh," I groaned, "I hate the waiting game more than anything!"

Kurama couldn't help but laugh this time, "Don't we all?"

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing but a smile still betrayed me. _How did he do that? I just went from feeling pathetic to trying not to enjoy myself. I should just stop asking myself these types of questions…_

Kurama stood up and extended his hand, "We should head back to the temple."

I took his hand and he helped me up. "Ok," I replied quietly and started following him through the forest. Soon all I could hear were our own footsteps. I guess Kurama got used to the fact that I don't like silence because he stroke up a conversation, one I really didn't want to have so I guess it was payback from the train ride and stealing his memories.

"What was your sister like?" I was totally not expecting that.

"Um… what?"

"Your sister, Rin. What was she like? You seemed to have cared a lot about her."

"Oh… uh…" _Why does this conversation remind me of another one I had a few days ago? Oh yeah. The um's and uh's. Jeez, I sound completely incompetent when I make those sounds._ "Well, she was my little sister. You know, normal sister stuff, I guess. I don't really remember much, she was still young when they disappeared so there wasn't an entirely developed personality yet. She liked watching the television a lot and always wanted me to play with her. I guess I kind of felt a need to be her role model since our parents weren't doing a very good job of it."

He digested what I said then asked another question, "What about your mom?"

This was difficult to respond to. "I… I don't remember her that well, she was a workaholic and I'm sure my father abused her. She slept a lot so I didn't see her much. I think I remember her death more than I remember her being in my life to tell the truth. I came home from school one day and she was hanging from the ceiling. Her wrists were slit and the blood covered most of the floor."

"I'm sorry," Kurama responded after a moment, "I didn't mean to—"

"It's ok," I replied quickly, "It wasn't really that traumatizing, I was so unfamiliar with my mother that it took me a second to realize who it was when I walked in on it." He didn't respond right away so I did the only thing I knew to do to avoid the silence. "The autopsy said it was suicide, but I always had my doubts. My father seemed unfazed by my mother's death and it wasn't long after it that he just left everything behind except my sister. I didn't even get a proper note, just a hand written document saying everything now belonged to me."

"I see," Kurama replied dimly. I grew quiet after that and the temple lights had been lit to evade the coming night.

"You didn't ask me about my father," I mocked being insulted.

"My apologies, would you like to talk about your father?" he responded with teasing intentions.

"No."

He gave a light laugh, "That's why I didn't ask," He paused and stopped walking and turned to me, "But now I'm curious."

"Damn," I replied half heartedly. "The funny thing is, during this conversation I realized why I've been feeling so useless and I bet it has something to do with him." Kurama lifted an eyebrow asking me to elaborate so I did, "Growing up I was always trying to get his approval through grades and stuff but he didn't care at all. He was on the verge of abusive towards my sister and me. He often used words like 'pathetic' and 'worthless' and 'you're wasting my time'. I think that's why I've been feeling that way… maybe… I don't know. I'm done talking about this." For some reason, the more I tried to explain, the more stupid I felt. So I stopped.

Kurama smiled at me, I'm assuming because of the last few things I said and not the father stuff. "That makes a whole lot more sense than you think it does," was his reply before someone from the temple spotted us.

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**A/N: Happy Holidays! Thank you for the reviews and follows! :D  
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